


Fuck You and My Deadlines

by gayseaurchin



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Angst, F/F, F/M, Langst, M/M, Mutual Pining, Slow ass burn, Soulmate AU, Soulmates, The good KUSH, and they were soulmates!, do i ever write anything without it though, kangst, klangst, my gawd they were soulmates, yeah - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-06-21
Updated: 2018-06-21
Packaged: 2019-05-14 18:52:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,341
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14775251
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gayseaurchin/pseuds/gayseaurchin
Summary: Based on soulmate au prompt by tumblr user not-gonna-ride-that-horse-sir: soulmate au in which you can't smile to anyone who isn't your soulmate. (There was more to that but this fic isn't based on the rest of it so doesn't matter)Keith and Lance are... dysfunctional coworkers at best. As editors at a middle rate editing company, they aren't enemies.But they're not friends. You see, they've always had a sort of connection that neither of them refused to admit to.Who knew the tiniest chuckle could change that?(Shitty summary, i know. All rights and characters belong to the creators of Voltron: Legendary Defender)Also I'm going to tell you right now, I will NOT update consistently, so please do not ask me toAlso I have no idea how editing companies work nor how office work or hierarchies work so ;-; have fun reading this





	1. Prologue

"Lance, stop, you don't want to do this!" 

"He threw out my cafe con leche! The son of a bitch doesn't deserve his shrimp pad thai!" 

Hunk let a heavy sigh pass through his lips, "At least get away from the ledge? You can just throw it in the trash."

"Are you kidding me? You want him to rid Keith of his food  _and_ leave evidence? You fool," Pidge scoffed.

Whatever was left of the Samoan man's soul left his eyes. "He'd be throwing the food in front of the fucking door."

"Now that is no language one of our best selling authors should be using-"

"Put a sock in it, Shiro. Lance is trying to throw Keith's food out the window," Hunk deadpanned.

The president looked Lance dead in the eye before muttering, "Have fun burning in hell," before walking away.

"Well, he's no help," Pidge grunts.

"He's late, anyways!"

"Lance McClain, no!"

 

 


	2. Stage 1: Denial

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "He-He's a character from a book! And I'm on my lunch break!" Lance defended his... pride? He realized he didn't know if it was worse to be rambling about a fictional character's ass or a real person's.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> just so y'all don't get confused:  
> the story follows time in real life, so this chapter will be starting... whenever I publish it  
> Keith is not aged up like in season 6 and the ages are:  
> Keith: 23  
> Lance: 22, soon to be 23  
> Hunk: 22  
> Pidge: 21 (she's only a year or two younger than everybody in vld?? so  
> Shiro: 30  
> Matt: let's say 26  
> Allura: like,,, 28? yeah  
> Coran: tf am i supposed to know/5...7? old enough to be Allura's mentor person ig  
> Romelle: hOW???/25. yeah  
> Lotor: this fucknugget... 27  
> Acxa and her gang: they're all around 25-30

**Lance**

"Hunk, buddy, you know I love you, but you're not the only one with deadlines! You have deadlines, so I can meet  _my_ deadlines, so the publisher can meet  _their_ deadlines. It's the circle of life, man!" Lance threw his hands up, emphasizing his point to the young author. 

Hunk withered under his editor's harsh glare, "I know, I know, Lance! I- I've just hit writer's block! I can't think of what'll happen next."

"Well, that's what I'm here for buddy. What's going on?"

"The main characters are finally getting used to each other, but I may have accidentally done that one trope where the love interest saw the main character in a compromising -situation and completely misunderstood and I don't know how to fix it. Should I just delete that part?" Hunk huffs in frustration.

"Woah, woah, woah, Hunk. Maybe instead of deleting  _everything_ you can just go back a little and let the love interest stick around? Let them hear what the main character has to say, and develop their view on that character instead of ruining it. It's not completely skipping the trope, but it's better than getting rid of an entire chunk of your book. Remember what I always say about the romantic parts?" Lance advises.

The Hawaiian man raised an eyebrow and thought deeply. "Uhh, 'stick to the plot, Hunk, you're a YA author'?"

"No! What I  _always_ say, is 'stick to what you know, and refer to _Amira_ ," Lance recalled.

"Of course," Hunk sighs. The young adult author recalls the person that his best friend/editor has looked up to for so long; ex-romance author Allura Amira, also their chief editor. Lance admired her writing from his teen years, and it influenced him in such a way that he took up writing and editing, and pursued it as his career, pushing himself to land his dream job at Allura's own editing/publishing company: Voltron Publishing Co. When Lance finally arrived -dragging Hunk along with him- he found Allura to be everything he'd imagined her to be; graceful, lovely, and held together. Lance, of course, admired her even _more_ , and fawned over her for months. Hunk however, has always been less convinced, and would instead take advice from the romance departments head: Takashi Shirogane. Sure, his approach was a bit cliche, but he always had different alternatives and lots of experience in the romance area.

"Sorry man, I think I'll just talk to Shiro," Hunk said. Lance had nothing against Shiro, quite the opposite, actually, he just had idolized Allura for so long it's hard for him to see why anyone  _wouldn't_ want to ask her for help. Hunk understood that, and awaited the day Lance realized that Allura was human, just like him.

Lance huffed and walked away with a quiet mutter. With a look to the clock, he realized it was time for his lunch break. Thankful for the midday break, he snatched his lunch and current book from his desk and headed for the break room/copy room, only to find Pidge fixing up their dear copy machine. 

"Hey, Pidgeo!" He called grumpily.

"'Sup, Lance," The IT manager grunted from their place in front of the poor machine. "Ol' Kaltenecker busted again, I think she needs some new parts. The last person to use it printed over 5,000 pages on accident and she just couldn't take it." The two exchanged stories on the copy machine's adventures and settled into a comfortable silence as Lance finished his lunch and began reading his book. 

A few minutes into the book, Lance's face crumpled into several expressions, before finally landing on that of sadness, and he collapsed the top half of his body onto the table, mourning the death of a character. "I don't understand, Pidge!" Lance lamented, passionately expressing his sorrow for his latest read. "How could the author just kill Sven off that way? He had so much potential! So much left to do! And such-"

"Weren't you talking about how that the author described that character so 'sexily' yesterday?" The small form sighed from under the machine. They sat up to gather another tool, but sent a deadpan look to Lance, their emotions -or lack thereof- showing plainly on their face, "Are you just upset you won't get anymore 'sexy' commentary on this particular character?"

Lance scoffed at the suggestion, as if it was so ridiculous to think such a thing of him, "Not even! I believe the detail of description given to Sven's lovely abs and bouncy pecs adds more uh, theme! A-A-And plot! To the, uh, plot." The editor's bisexual ass stuttered through. "Also, he has a tattoo on his ass, and that's  _hot_."

Pidge just scoffed and went back to fixing the battered machine. "I could  _never_ understand people who like men. What's so great about a couple built up muscles?" The IT worker muttered to themself.

"Well, _someone's_ comfortable with their sexuality," A new voice chuckled. Lance's ears immediately began to heat up at the gruff,  _deep_ voice that just entered the room.

"Wh-What's it to you?" He asked, turning to face the man of his -wet- dreams, Keith Kogane. Who was innocently filling up a coffee cup. With those rolled up sleeves of his perfect white button up, highlighting those  _arms_ -

_No,_ Lance thought to himself,  _I cannot get a hard-on at work._

"Well, I believe it  _is_ my business if my coworker was raving over a guy's ass instead of working."

"He-He's a character from a book! And I'm on my lunch break!" Lance defended his... pride? He realized he didn't know if it was worse to be rambling about a fictional character's ass or a real person's. 

Keith chuckled that lovely sound again, "Much better I suppose. Can you come to our office when you're break is over? We need to discuss the YA department's publishing dates."

The Cuban man simply nodded, his eyes growing dreamy and his lips curving into a smile as he watched Keith's ass walk away.

* * *

 

Lance grows depressed on his walk home. As usual. Although he and Hunk had chosen to be roommates when they moved to New York, his friend fell in love with the local bakery owner, Shay, and decided to move in with her quickly. Lance was alone, and he quickly grew to understand that that was dangerous. As he walked down the busy street, he watched all the couple, some with three or more people, smile at each other, laugh at their jokes, be happy. All he's ever wanted, was one. One person to come home to, one person to love. As his twenty-third birthday approached, he knew his chances were growing more and more slim. His chances of meeting his soulmate. To smile at someone. To laugh. They say by the time you reach the age of 25, the chances of still meeting your soulmate are more than rare, one in a million. Beyond 30, one in a billion. Anything after 40 has  _never happened_. 

So yeah, Lance was freaking out a little bit. He heaved a sigh as he entered his two-bedroom apartment, feeling it's size and emptiness more than ever. "Hey, Blue," he whispered as he lovingly pet his sweet Border Collie, with only three legs of which to show his own love. The man remembers that those legs are more than enough, as he's nearly pushed to the ground by the excitable old dog. "Calm down, baby," Lance whispers. He pours more water into Blue's bowl and sets his things on the couch, collapsing right next to them.

Like clockwork, Lance followed his usual schedule: get home, eat dinner, exercise, write, go to bed. Sometimes he'd go out for a drink with co-workers, but Lance couldn't find it within himself to stay for long. Most nights he'd stare at the wall until his sleeping pills kicked in, his brain sorting through the day, telling him what he could've done differently. As he is doing now. 

_Fuuuuuuuuuckkkkk, I completely embarrassed myself in front of Keith, too!_ Lance thought to himself, his eyes growing heavy.  _I even checked out his ass as he walked away..._

_And smiled!_ Was Lance's first thought as he shot up, realization crossing his features, his whole body crumbling into itself.  _I smiled at Keith. This can't be real- It's not. There's no way you could. Keith is too good for you._

And Lance believed it so. He convinced himself so thoroughly that, in his mind, there really was no conceivable way that he and Keith could be _that_. Soulmates. 

That's when Lance's spiral began. He awoke at 6:34 am instead of his usual 7:00 am, he ate breakfast and showered, and got to work 45 minutes early instead of his usual fifteen. While at work, the worn out man frequented the break room for several cups of coffee throughout the day, and barely spoke to any of his co-workers. His brain ran on autopilot until he came face-to-face with the man of his misery -which really shouldn't have taken so long considering they shared an office.

"Hey, Lance! You look worse for wear. Rough night?" Keith said with his usual soft frown. Well, the frown that everybody wears when not faced with their soulmate. Lance imagined that Keith would smile at him instead if all this soulmate bullshit didn't exist.

"Um, I guess you can say that. Blue was a little wild last night, I think there was another dog around the apartment at some point." Lance realizes this might not be the best excuse, as the two men live in the same apartment building. 

A flash of realization crosses Keith's face. "Oh! That might have been my fault. I took Red and Yorak out for a walk last night, got a little restless myself."

Lance quirks an eyebrow at his coworker. "You walk your cat?"

"Uh, yeah," Keith chuckles. Lance imagines that there was a smile hidden under his crush's cute laugh. "I've been told it's weird."

The office grows quiet at Keith looks through his file drawer and Lance stares at him, confused. Keith never continues a conversation, so that was not a concern. But he seems almost... friendly. Suspicious, Lance watches Keith intensely over the next few days, asking his coworkers about him, his intrigue only growing with the information he found proved to be useless. After several conversations about the Asian man with various employees at Voltron, Lance decided Keith was the male counterpart of Rosa Diaz, a discovery only surging him on when he found that Keith also watched Brooklyn 99. 

After an agonizing few days of debating with himself, Lance finally caved and followed Keith home. With a pair of sunglasses and a hoodie, the Cuban man stealthily followed his coworker home, though Lance realized that they lived in the same complex and following Keith covertly wasn't necessary. Still, Lance stuck with the original plan and followed Keith at a distance.

Notepad in hand, Lance took notes as he observed, not caring for the looks sent his way. By the time they reached their apartment complex, -with a quick stop to the liquor store- Lance had a plethora of notes; all of which were no use to him. So far, he'd written:

_[Tends to flick hair out of his face,,, why don't you just use a bobby pin,,, dumbass_

_I can now guarantee he irons his clothes, he wrinkles himself when he's nervous -side note, he gets nervous when he has to talk to other people_

_He likes soda,,, way too much for the body he has. I mean, mountain dew,,, really??? Also, he's very particular about cat and dog food_

_Trips a hell of a lot? Can he fuckin walk even?_

_Has a lot of keys,,, why?]_

Okay, Lance could admit the notes were a little helpful, depending on what he wanted to use them for. He reviewed his notes on his way back to his own apartment, and devised a plan as to how he would get in Keith's. He was sure it'd be empty and boring, and Lance was looking for any reason to forget about his unrequited (by the universe) crush. An apartment's decor wasn't much to go on, but it was a starting point of it meant Lance wouldn't get his heart broken again. 

With his plan mapped out and set, Lance fed Blue and headed for his door, only to hear a loud  _thump_ , like a large mass had hit his door. Lance immediately began thinking the worst,  _oh my glob, what if my neighbors are murderers and that's a body?! what if they know I heard it and kill_ me _?_ Lance cleared his mind once he realized his thoughts were unreasonable and unlikely. 

Still cautious, Lance timidly stuck his head out of his apartment's doorway, surveying the hallway, and called out, "Is everything okay out he-"

The man was interrupted by another  _thump_ a few doors down. Lance's gaze averted toward the sound, his eyes bugging out and his mouth dropping open when he finally found the source. "K-Keith?"

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Keith's chuckling isn't laughing btw. in this au, chuckling at people who aren't your soulmate is like that laugh you have when you find a picture mildly funny on the internet. kinda like a snort? but dry and laugh-like. yeah.  
> anyways, thanks so much for suffering this chapter! just know that every sentence was written with my sleep deprived suffering as well.  
> also Red is Keith's cat and Yorak is an actual wolf. it happens  
> please remember to leave a kudos or comment if you liked it, and feel free to share it!  
> I'll accept constructive criticism, I definitely won't cry ;D  
> word count: 2,187

**Author's Note:**

> let me know what you think about it so far ;D  
> please leave a kudos, comment, subscribe, share!!!! all the things!!! ;)


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